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I Went From Doing Something That Was Very Original, Sort Of Subversive, And Specific In Its Voice - The Grinder - And Loved Every Minute Of It, But Having Done That, I Was Anxious To Do Something That Had More Broad Appeal And To Embrace The Good Things About That.

-Rob Lowe

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I Went From Doing

Rob Lowe

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I Went From Doing Something That Was Very Original, Sort Of Subversive, And Specific In Its Voice - The Grinder - And Loved Every Minute Of It, But Having Done That, I Was Anxious To Do Something That Had More Broad Appeal And To Embrace The Good Things About That.

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Chris [farley] - I Would Consider Him A Comic Animal. With The Emphasis On "animal."

I Literally Knew Nothing When I Did That Show ["tony Flanagan"]. It Was The First Time I Signed An Autograph, It Was The First Time I Got Fan Letters, It Was The First Time People Screamed When I Came Out.

Any Time An Opportunity Scares You That Much, You Should Seriously Consider Saying Yes.

Every Relationship Has Its Complications.

We Had Shot Six Episodes Of The West Wing Season When 9/11 Happened. An Extraordinary Thing That Would Never Happen Today Is Aaron Going To The Network And Saying, "i Think We Need To Go Back And Reshoot, I Have Something I Want To Do," And The Network Just Kind Of Let Him Do It.

When I Hear That I Realize How Quickly Time Passes And How Everybody Goes On Their Journeys And They're Always Unbelievable And They Never Go Where You Think They're Going To Take You And, Quite Frankly, It Also Makes Me Feel A Little Old.

Sam Seaborn Is The Best Character That's Ever Been Written For Me, Certainly. By Far. And It's A Timeless Show [the West Wing], One That's Having Another Resurgence Now, With People So In An Uproar Politically.

There Is No Recovery For Anyone Without Lifting The Lid On The Pain Of The Past And Letting In The Light.

['john F. Kennedy] Movie Is Based On A Massive Best-selling Book, Which Is Always Helpful. And Then The Script Was Amazing And Answered My Question, "why This? Why Now?" And The "why Now" Is That It's 50 Years Since The Assassination, And The Country Needs To Have And Will Have A Conversation About That. And The "why This" Is The Construct, Which I Think Is Sort Of Ingenious.

I Think Of Myself As A Human Being First And Foremost, And Secondly As A Person Whose Profession Is Acting. If People Want To Make That Into Something More Or Less, That's Up To Them.

I’ve Never Agreed With The Conventional Wisdom That ‘actors Are Great Liars.’ If More People Understood The Acting Process, The Goals Of Good Actors, The Conventional Wisdom Would Be ‘actors Are Terrible Liars,’ Because Only Bad Actors Lie On The Job. The Good Ones Hate Fakery And Avoid Manufactured Emotion At All Costs. Any Script Is Enough Of A Lie Anyway. (what Experience Does Any Actor Have With Flying A Spacecraft? Killing Someone?) What’s Called For, What Actors Are Hired For, Is To Bring Reality To The Arbitrary.

That's What I Grew Up Loving. Whether It's 30 Rock Or The Office Or Parks And Rec... I Don't Know If Those Still Work On Network Today Or Not, But The Grinder Did Not. But The Great News Is That It Lives On On Netflix.

Everybody Is God. Everybody Is The Devil. And If You Don't Realize You Have Both Parts, That's What Really Causes Problems.

You Show Me A Perfect Person And I'll Show You Somebody Who Has Lived A Very Closed Life.

Francis [ford Coppola] Was On The Cover Of Time Magazine For One From The Heart And For Owning A Studio, And He Was Fresh Off Of Apocalypse [now] And The Godfather Films, So He Was At The Absolute Top Of His Game And Legend [in The Outsiders ].

Fake Confidence On The Outside Often Trumps Truthful Turmoil On The Inside.

We Always Reminisce About How Everyone Tried To Get Diane Lane's Attention, To Very Little Success.

Congratulations

You Show Me Someone Who's Led A Perfect Life And I'll Show You A Dullard.

I Feel Like Every Movie Is Definitely The Last One That I've Had My Moment; That I'm Going To Be Selling Autographs At Malls.

Can Someone Explain The Vitriol Whenever Ayn Rand Comes Up? 'atlas' Is The Greatest Motivator For The Individual That I Can Imagine.

Your Interests Change. I Used To Feel That If I Spent Evenings Reading, Or Watching A Film, Or Just Doing Nothing Up Here At The House, I Would Probably Be Missing Something That Was A Lot More Fun. I Don't Have That Sense Anymore.

I Don't Think You Have To Be Perfect To Be A Role Model.

[doctor Cukrowicz In Suddenly, Last Summer Is] Is One Of The Most Unpronounceable Roles In The Modern-day Theater Day Canon, And One Of The Most Boring!

When I'm Angry I'm An Incredibly Tough Person, Because I Don't Get Angry Easily.

I Have Other Obligations Now - The Show, My Family, My Life... Though I Know That Without My Sobriety I Wouldn't Have Any Of Those Things.

There Was A Period In My Life Where I Went Out A Lot And I Had A Really Good Time. But That Period Is Over.

To Go From "gnarly" To "literally," That Shows I'm Growing Up, Right?

Of The Many Horrors Of Divorce, The Most Egregious Is That It Robs A Kid Of The Best Of Both Worlds. Dads Can Do Many Things That Even The Best Moms Can't, And Vice Versa.

If People Find Me Attractive, It Would Be For Reasons That Anybody Finds Anybody Attractive. It's Something That Comes From Within, And It Manifests Itself Physically.

Conventions Are, By Nature, A Party. I Mean, That's Why People Become Delegates. They Come From All Over The World To Exercise Their Democratic Rights And To Party.

If People Are Attracted To Me, I Like To Think It's Because I'm An Interesting Person, Fairly Smart, Well-rounded, With A Good Sense Of Humor. I Would Like To Think That's What I Am. I Would Like To Think People See It.

I Enjoy Experiencing Life. Being A Celebrity Can Really Stand In The Way Of That.

Trying To Execute That Kind Of Intricate Staging In The West Wing At The Same Time You're Doing Intricate Dialogue - It's Like Patting Your Head And Rubbing Your Stomach!

[maggie Smith] Brings New Meaning To The Phrase "doesn't Suffer Fools." She Has Just The Most Amazing, Dry Timing Of Anyone Ever, I Think. I Think Everyone's Always Known About It, But With Her Resurgence On Downton Abbey, A Whole New Generation Has Been Introduced To It, Which Is Just Great.

Whether You're A Movie Star Or Doing Time In A Correctional Institute, Everybody Can Have Bad Judgment, And It's Something You Have To Address. You Learn To Go On From It. It Shouldn't Stand In Your Way. You Shouldn't Let People Continue To Throw It In Your Face.

To Achieve Longevity You Will Have Cycles. No One Gets There In One Straight Shot.

The Script Was Given To Me By One Of My Agents And They Didn't Tell Me Anything About It. My First Reaction Was, "the West Wing? Is It About A Squadron Of Fighter Jets?" Then I Turned The Page And Saw, 'by Aaron Sorkin' And I Knew It Was Going To Be Something Good.

I Don't Like To Let My Celebrity Interfere With Me Living My Life. I Like To Meet People, I Like To Talk To People.

I Remember Tucker Toomey Was Named So Because "t's Are Funny!" And If Garry Marshall Says It's Funny, By God, It Must Be So.

[jim Belushi] And I Have A Great Thing Going, And A Really Weird, Offbeat Story. [living In Peril] Is The Type Of Movie That I Don't Even Know If It Would Be Made Today. Just A Very Odd Film. But A Very Fun Movie.

I Think My Thing Is That I Try And Pick Up On Things That Other People Have Maybe Not Picked Up On.

We Knew We Were Doing Something That Would Make An Impact, Because Of Francis [ford Coppola], But I Don't Think We Were Surprised By How Well The Movie [the Outsiders] Did, But I Think We Would All Say We Were Surprised At How Well We All Did Coming Out Of It.

I Really Make A Point Of Never Worrying, Or Trying Not To Worry, About The Way I'm Perceived. You'll Go Crazy Otherwise.

I Believe In Ceremony. I Think Ceremony Is Important, Pomp And Circumstance, Tradition. I'm Into Those Things.

I Can't Help But Be A Little More Gun-shy And Wary About People.

I Was Not Familiar With The Book [before Filming In The Outsiders] , Though. Interestingly, The Outsiders Had Not Reached The Point Where It Is Now, Where It's Required Reading In Sixth And Seventh Grades. In My Sixth And Seventh Grade, We Did Not, But Today Everyone Does.

The Fact Is, I Have A Great Home And I Like To Have People Come Up. I Meet Enough People Just Doing My Grocery Shopping; I Don't Need To Go Out And Meet Any More People.

So I Came To The Realization: Nothing In Life Is Unfair. It's Just Life.

[virginia Madsen] Big Part In That Movie ['class'] Required Her Shirt To Get Ripped Off, And Looking Back, It Couldn't Be A More Egregious, Vintage, Lowbrow, 1980s Porky's-esque, Shoehorned-in Moment. Like, You Would Never Have That Moment In A Movie That Aspired To Be What That Movie Did Today.

Be Funny Whenever Possible, Even If Some People Don't Get It.

Mostly People Are Interested In How Somebody Becomes An Actor. And Then, If They've Had A Couple Of Drinks, They Want To Know What Demi Moore's Like Or Whatever. I Mean, I Don't Mind People Asking That At All, But When You've Answered It Five Times...

William Devane Was Amazing [ In The Grinder] - That We Were Able To Reinvent An Acting Legend As A Comedy Star - That's Very Gratifying.

Intelligence Is That Aspect Of Human Cognition That We Haven't Managed To Emulate Yet.

I'm Thinking Of How Unexpected And Yet Oddly Preordained Life Can Be. Events Are Upon You In An Instant, Unforseen And Without Warning, And Often Times Marked With Disappointment And Tragedy, But Equally Often Leading To A Better Understanding Of The Bittersweet Truth Of Life.

You Can Meet People Who Are Really Beautiful. Then, When You See Them Angry For The First Time, All Of A Sudden They're Not Beautiful Anymore. They Didn't Just Step Into The Other Room And Have Plastic Surgery; They're Still The Same Physically. It's Just That Something Inside Of Them Has Changed. They're No Longer Attractive.

[bad Influence]was David Koepp's First Big Screenplay. It Was Actually A Writing Sample That Was Around Town To Get David Work At The Time, And Steve Tisch - Now The Owner Of The New York Giants - Found It, Loved It, And Together We Put It Together. But I'd Say That Would Be The One I'd Tell People To Go And Look At If They Haven't Seen It.

[code Black] Doesn't Look Like Any Other Cbs Show... And I Don't Mean That As Any Sort Of Judgment. It's Just Unbelievably Unique, It's Gorgeous, And It Looks Like A Film.

What People Do In Their Private Lives Is Their Business, And Shouldn't Be Anybody Else's Business.

Sobriety Was The Greatest Gift I Ever Gave Myself.

Addicts In Recovery

I Am Getting On In Years, And I Have A Very Extensive Imdb Page, And I Cannot Keep Track Of My Own Credits.

I Think [the Outsiders] Really Forged Who I Am As An Actor, And It's One Of The Reasons Why I Keep Being Drawn To Big Ensembles Where I'm Surrounded By Strong, Successful Actors Or Personalities. Because That Was My Initial Foray Into Movie Making.

Sobriety Was The Greatest Gift I Ever Gave Myself. I Don't Put It On A Platform. I Don't Campaign About It. It's Just Something That Works For Me. It Enabled Me To Really Connect With Another Human Being - My Wife, Sheryl - Which I Was Never Able To Do Before.

It Was Sort Of The First Movie [the Specials ] Where I Really Got To Let My Comedy Freak Flag Fly. And Everybody In It Made Me Laugh Really Hard. I Wish More People Had Seen It.

We [me,maggie Smith And Natasha Richardson ] Rehearsed [suddenly, Last Summer] Like A Play For A Month, And Then We Shot It Over The Course Of... I Believe It Was 10 Days. All Live, Basically. Long, Uninterrupted Takes. And For Me, A Lot Of It Is Me Going Head To Head With Maggie Smith. And Anybody Who's Ever Had That Opportunity Never Forgets It! It's A Real Career Highlight, And It Was Everything I Ever Thought It Would Be, And More.

I Have Never Felt At Any Point In My Life, Good Or Bad, Any Ill Will Ever From The Man Or Woman On The Street.

Everybody Is Naughty, Everybody Is Good.

I Love That Movie [the Specials]. I Love James Gunn. I Always Sort Of Suspected That He Would Do Well For Himself.

I Have Had A Lot Of Blessed, Interesting Things Happen To Me And Have Bumped Up Against Some Amazing People.

We All Have A Suspicion And Hope That We've Just Been Part Of Something Special, Something That May Eventually Change Our Lives. That No One Else Knows This Makes It Seem Like We Are Living With A Secret That We Would Like To Share, But Can't, Sort Of Like Having A Superpower That's Not Come Online Or Being President Elect. For The Moment, Our Lives Proceed As Usual, But Within A Month, We Think, Everything Will Change. It's A Frustrating, If Exciting, Disconnect.

It's Part Of Your Job As An Actor To Put Your Personal Problems Behind You And Work. Good Actors Can Do That.

Fred Savage,he's America's Sweetheart, Like I Always Say. One Of The Funniest, Nicest, Most Decent... I Love Him Like A Brother.

I've Always Found Women More Interesting Than Men.

I Know, There Are So Many Great Lines [in Tommy Boy]. People Say To Me, "did You Eat Paint Chips For A Living?" Or, "these Shoes Are Worth More Than Your Life." And The One I Get All The Time Is, "brothers Don't Shake Hands, Brothers Gotta Hug!"

I Have, On The Other Hand, Felt Ill Will From Various People In The Industry And The Press.

The Best Part Is Not The Biggest, It's The One That's Most Memorable.

I Meet So Many People. I Want To Be Genuine And Open With Everyone, Because When I Was Young And Just Starting Out, I Remember I Was Around People Who Were Successful, And I Thought That Some Were Kind Of Cool Or Off-putting To Their Fans. It Always Really Bothered Me. So I Think I May Sometimes Go Too Far Out Of My Way.

[doctor Cukrowicz] Was Basically A Role Where You Have Two Diva Actresses - Maggie Smith And Natasha Richardson - And My Role Was To Say, "and Then What Happened? Tell Me More." But I Wanted To Do It Was Because A) It Was Tennessee Williams, A Great Writer, And B) It Was Richard Eyre, An Amazing Director. And To Work With Those Two Amazing Women!

People Have A Responsibility, Especially With Today's Media, To Read Between The Lines.

I'd Done Light Comedy. In Some Quarters, About Last Night... Is A Romantic Comedy. So It Wasn't Like I'd Been Doing Sophie's Choice My Entire Career. But For Whatever Reason, Nobody Had Really Given Me The Room Or The Ability To Be Out And Out Funny. And Lorne [michaels] And Mike [myers] And Chris [farley] And Dana [carvey], That Crop Really Helped Me Do That.

My Looks Have Prevented People From Seeing My Work.

The Press Concentrates On A Divorce An Actor's Going Through And They Ignore The Good Performances He Gives, Or The Causes That He Works For.

I Think That In Today's World The Right To Privacy And Freedom Of The Press Are Set On A Collision Course.

When I Was A Teen Idol, I Was So Goddamn Pretty I Wouldn't Have Taken Myself Seriously.

I Don't Look Back With Any Bitterness, Though There Are A Couple Of Judgment Calls And Some '80s Hairdos That I'd Like To Do Over.

Ginnifer Goodwin Said It Very Well - We're Not Doing The Hall Of Presidents At Disneyland. This Is My Interpretation Of [j.f] Kennedy.

It Was A Little Company That Released [bad Influence], It Was Really Ahead Of Its Time... I'm Really Proud Of It. And It's Curtis Hanson. He'd Directed A Small Movie Before That, But It Was His First Directorial Work That Really Worked.

Actually, If I Had To Do It Over [leaving The Show The West Wing], I'd Do The Same Thing, Because Lost In The Shuffle Of It Is That Aaron [sorkin] Left The Same Year I Did. And I Would Not Have Wanted To Be On The West Wing With Somebody Else Writing It.

What Kind Of Person Would Run For President Of The United States In Today's Political Climate? It Would Have To Be Somebody Who's Never Really Been Drunk In Public, Who's Never Had An Affair, Who Never Shoplifted When They Were A Little Boy, Who Never Had Any Sort Of Counseling At All. I Just Don't Know How You Go Through Your Life Meeting People, Experiencing Everything You Can, Trying To Absorb, And Not Make Some Of Those Mistakes. It's Impossible.

I Wouldn't Go Back On My Old Days, Though; Everybody Needs To Have Their Wild Years. It's Just A Question Of When And I'd Rather Have Had Them Early Than Be Doing It As A Mid-life Crisis Type Thing.

As An Actor, You Deal In Fantasy, Imagination, And Concentration. Those Are Your Three Weapons. Those Are Your Bullets.

In No Way Would I Ever Assume When I Meet Some Girl That She Wants To Sleep With Me; That Doesn't Enter My Mind. I Think Somebody Who Did Assume That Would Be Such An Insufferably Arrogant Person That You Couldn't Be Around Him.

Anybody Who Doesn't Have A Scandal I Have No Interest In Meeting Because They Haven't Lived Their Lives.

You Can't Believe Everything You Read. It's Never Been More True.

[the Outsiders] Was Very Competitive, In The Best Possible Way. Full Of Love, Full Of Companionship And Fellowship, Pranks And Practical Jokes And Ball-busting.

The Media Have Such A Strong Hand In Deciding What People's Perceptions Are. They Decide What The Agenda Is Going To Be, What The Issues Are.

[on "john F. Kennedy" Set] Everybody Was Very Interested In The Accent. Even My Collaborators Were Very Curious To Know If I Was Even Going To Do It. And I Was, Like, "you Just Can't Not Do It." I Think Everybody Was Worried That It Was Going To Sound Like The Guy From... Is It The Simpsons?

Sampling, Statisticians Have Told Us, Is A Much More Effective Way Of Getting A Good Census.

There's This Unbelievable Bias And Prejudice Against Quote-unquote Good-looking People, That They Can't Be In Pain Or They Can't Have Rough Lives Or Be Deep Or Interesting.

Bias And Prejudice

I Happen To Be A Movie Star, But I'm Not Saying, "hey, I'm A Role Model. Imitate Me."

[the Outsiders] Was All New To Me. It's Been Fun To Be A Part Of That Ride, Where It's Become On The Level Of Catcher In The Rye In Terms Of People's Required Reading In Schools.

In School, I Had Two Or Three Best Guy Friends, But Mostly If I Was Just Hanging, I'd Like To Talk To The Girls, Because They Were More Interesting. I Think They Were Smarter.

There Is Good And Evil In Each Of Us, And You Can Easily Be Led To The Dark Side.

[ed Lauter] Was An Actor's Actor. I Love Working With That Class Of Actor. You Know, They Come In, They Do It, No Bullshit. There's No Artifice, There's No Fanciness, They're Just Honest And Tough And Direct.

Kids Are Growing Up And They Don't Know The Difference Between Fact And Fiction. The Line Is Getting Blurry. I Can Handle It, You Know; I'm A Big Boy. And The Entertainment Industry Has Always Been Crazy. But The Problem Is, It Spills Over Into Some Very Serious Issues, In Politics And Real Newsworthy Stuff.

I Have Been Looking Forward To This Age Of My Life For A Long Time. In My Twenties, I Marked The Days On The Calendar - I Was Sick Of Playing High-school Kids.

There Are So Many Family Dinners You Can Do. I Eventually Had To Go To Them And Say, 'look, I Don't Do Spatula Work. I Don't Do Scenes With Oven Mitts. If You're Looking For That, You've Got The Wrong Guy. I'm Not Doing Scenes About Casseroles. It's Not Happening.

I Was... 15? And Garry Marshall, Who Had Many, Many Seasons In The Sun And A Very Long Career, Was In The Middle Of The Brightest Of All His Seasons - I Think He Owned Network Television - And It Was His Next Thing, And He Was Directing [mean Jeans ]. And I Thought, "if There's Anyone Who Can Bring Comedy Out Of A Designer Jeans Shop, It's Gotta Be Garry."

We Shot Every Scene Of Mine In The Entire Movie In Five Days. All My Coverage, Everything. I Left. They Went Back And Shot Everybody Else Around Me. Insane. The Part [billie In Crazy Six] Called For A Handsome, Coiffed Cool Guy Romantic Lead, And I Showed Up Like You See Him In The Movie. And They Let Me Do It.

Nothing In Life Is Unfair. It's Just Life. To The Extent That I Had Any Inner Turmoil, I Had Only Myself To Blame. I Also Thought Of My Two Boys And What Kind Of Example I Hoped To Be. I Would Always Want Them To Take Charge Of Their Own Futures And Not Be Paralyzed By The Comfort And Certainty Of The Status Quo Or Be Cowed By The Judgment Of Those On The Outside Looking In.

It's Always A Good Day When I Get To Work With Jim Belushi, Who I Adore.

Directors Are Not Worried About Casting Beautiful Women, But They Are Not Sure That They Want To Cast Great-looking Men. My Looks Have Prevented People From Seeing My Work Objectively.

[jodie Foster] Is One Of My Favorite Actors And People In The Business.

I Had To Learn American Sign Language. And I Did Stuff In It, Stuff That Was Just For Me And Was Fun, That I Don't Think Anyone Would Ever Notice.

The Only Good Thing I Could Say About Dr. Vegas Was That It Was Fun Working With Amy Adams. I Like To Feel I Picked Somebody Great As My Leading Lady And Was Borne Out. Oh, And I Learned How To Snap On A Medical Glove Very Easily.

[the Specials ]was Always Going To Be An Underground, Underdog Kind Of Movie. But I Love When People Bring That Up, Because It's Very Early, Vintage James Gunn.

I Think Part Of Maturity Is Knowing Who You Are.

Knowing Who You Are

There's An Argument That Maybe [the Grinder] Was Better Suited For Streaming Or Cable. I Don't Know. I Still Like To Think There's A Place For Smart, Subversive, Original Comedies On Networks.

It Was A Role [dean Sanderson] I Hadn't Seen Before, And Yet It Was Very Accessible And Relatable At The Same Time. I Read Scripts That Have One Or The Other, But I Rarely Read Scripts That Have Both. And It Was Laugh-out-loud Funny.

When I Was Young And Crazy, I Was Young And Crazy. It Can Be Hard Enough Just To Be In Your Teens And 20s. Then Add Fame, Money, Access, And Every Single Person Telling You That You're The Greatest Person Who Ever Was, And It Can Be A Recipe For Disaster. Some People Literally Don't Survive It.

People Should Be Allowed To Do Whatever They Want In The Privacy Of Their Own Home Or Their Own Hotel Room.

[tony Richardson ] Just Liked Me, Knew I Was Going To Be What He Wanted [in The Hotel New Hampshire], And That Was The End Of It. It Was Unbelievable.

["john F. Kennedy" Movie] Was Just Really Clever Storytelling.

Stephen [king], Who Wrote The Script Himself, Was On The Set [of The Stand], And I Was Just So Fortunate To Get To Know Him. What A Wonderful Man. He May Go Down In History As The Greatest American Writer, Pound For Pound.

The Umbrella That I Live Under Is That You Must Be Truthful With Everyone Except When To Do So Would Injure Them Or Others.

The Universe Works In Mysterious Ways And For Me It Worked Out Perfectly. With All Respect To Everybody Else, Aaron Sorkin Is And Was The West Wing, Full Stop. There's No West Wing Without Him.

Somebody Once Told Me - And I Could Be Wrong About This - That The West Wing Was, On Any Given Episode, $300,000 Over, On Average. Now Today, If You Were $10,000 Over Budget, They Would Cancel You. For Sure.

Random Roles? Oh, I Saw Virginia Madsen Do This The Other Day! You See? I'm Paying Attention!

I Like The Tradition Of Ordinary Men In Extraordinary Circumstances And How They React To Events Which Force Them To Be Heroic In A Way That Is Not In Their Natures.

I Think I Have A Pretty Good Ear. I Mean, Even Just Starting With, Like, Austin Powers, Where I Did Young Robert Wagner. People Were, Like, "how Do You Imitate Robert Wagner? What Does He Sound Like? What Does That Even Involve?".

If People Are Watching Me 365 Days A Year, 360 Days They Might Be Bored To Tears. And On The Other Five Days, Maybe I Would Qualify As Satan.

[chris] Farley Was A Dear Friend, And We Remained Close Right Up Until The End. You Know, There Was Nobody More Fearless Comedically Than Chris. And That's Saying A Lot, Because I'm Friendly With A Lot Of Funny People.

Read Between The Lines, Folks, 'cause I'm Here To Tell You You're Not Getting The Straight Story. Ever. You're Getting Variations Of The Truth, If You're Lucky.

Read Between The Lines

Allison Janney Is The Best Actor On The Series.allison Is One Of The Few Actors I Ever Worked With Who Is Incapable Of Hitting A False Note.

She [virginia Madsen] And I Had A Really Long Relationship After That Movie ['class'] I Love Her, And I Can Imagine It Was Not Much Fun To Do That Big Sequence With A Bunch Of Laughing, Ogling Frat-boy Actors. I Mean, Can You Imagine Putting Up With Me, [john] Cusack, Alan Ruck, And Andrew Mccarthy At 18?

As Far As My Work For Causes Or Social Issues, That's Something I'm Doing As A Private Citizen.

Medical-genre Shows Have Been Around Forever, They Will Be Around Forever, And I Think This [code Black] Is A Great Iteration Of The Next Generation.

Some Of The '80s Movies I Did Are Sort Of Museum Pieces. St. Elmo's Fire Is Great As A Sort Of Kitschy, "oh, My God, I Can't Believe We Wore That" Type Of Movie.

At The Time, The Hotel New Hampshire Was John Irving's Favorite Adaptation Of His Work, Which Meant A Lot To All Of Us Who Worked On That Movie.it's Amazing To Me That That Was A Studio Movie. That Was A Summer Studio Release! If That Doesn't Tell You How Much The Business Has Changed, Nothing Will.

All The Shows We Did Pre-airdate, And I'd Come Out - "rob Lowe!" - And It Was [offers Bored Applause.] After The Show Aired? I Came Out - "rob Lowe!" - And The Place Was, Like, Bedlam. And Then The Next Week, They Wouldn't Let Anyone Under The Age Of 20 Into The Audience. And I'm Going, "so That's How It Works! Okay!"

I Went From Doing Something That Was Very Original, Sort Of Subversive, And Specific In Its Voice - The Grinder - And Loved Every Minute Of It, But Having Done That, I Was Anxious To Do Something That Had More Broad Appeal And To Embrace The Good Things About That.

I Don't Like Any Sport Where You're Already Exhausted When You're Done Putting On The Equipment.

[wayne's World And Tommy Boy] Was All From Hosting Saturday Night Live The First Time [in 1990]. I Just Had Such A Great Time, And I Had Such A Simpatico Relationship With Mike Myers. And Lorne [michaels]. I'll Always Be Grateful For Lorne, Who Saw Me As Funny.

Anyone Who's Lived Their Life To The Fullest Extent Has A Scandal Buried Somewhere.

I'm Not Going To Stop Talking To People Who Come Up To Me In An Airport. I'm Not Going To Worry About What May Be Their Ulterior Motive.

Adventure Is Important In Life. Making Memories Matters. It Doesn’t Have To Be A Secret Sea Plane And An Historic Sports Moment. But To Have A Great Life, You Need Great Memories. Grab Any Intriguing Offer. Say Yes To A Challenge, And To The Unknown. Be Creative In Adding Drama And Scope To Your Own Life. Work At It, Like A Job. Money From Effort Comes And Goes. But Effort From Imagination And Following Adventure Creates Stories That You Keep Forever. And Anyone Can Do It.

One Of My Favorite Books [the Stand] Of All Time. I Grew Up Reading It.

If Somebody Else Is Achieving More Than I Am, That Means I Can Do It, Too. Everybody Has The Ability To Raise Themselves Up, And My Life Has Been Marked By That.

My First Lessons In Comedy, How To Construct A Joke, I Learned From Eileen Brennan, Who Had Unbelievable Timing.

I Think It Was Alfred Hitchcock Who Said 90 Percent Of Successful Moviemaking Is In The Casting. The Same Is True In Life. Who You Are Exposed To, Who You Choose To Surround Yourself With, Is A Unique Variable In All Of Our Experiences And It Is Hugely Important In Making Us Who We Are. Seek Out Interesting Characters, Tough Adversaries And Strong Mentors And Your Life Can Be Rich, Textured, Highly Entertaining And Successful, Like A Best Picture Winner. Surround Yourself With Dullards, People Of Vanilla Safety And Unextraordinary Ease, And You May Find Your Life Going Straight To Dvd.

I Have A Lot Of Great Memories, But I Can't Imagine Anything More Exciting Than The Life I Have Now.

Contrary To Popular Belief, I Don't Go Out Very Much. When I Do Go Out, A Lot Of Times It'll Be To Something Like A Heavyweight Fight, And I'll Be Photographed, So That People Have This Conception That I Go Out A Lot.

People Are Human. There's Such A Premium Today On Being Perfect. That's Just Not The Way People Are.

When People Consent To Do Something, They Should Be Able To Do Whatever They Want.

That Chemistry That We Had [with Fred Savage] Is Very, Very Hard To Find. We Were Lucky To Have Those 22 Episodes [of The Grinder]. I'm Unendingly Proud Of It.

Apparently Sodapop Curtis Said "gnarly," And Chris Traeger Said "literally." Every Decade I Have A Favorite Phrase I Can't Stop With.

Ridley Scott's Company Makes Great Work In Whatever Arena, Whether It's Movies Or Commercials Or Television. They Just Do Really Quality Stuff, So You Know It's Going To Be Quality.

Whether You're A Presidential Front-runner, Or An Academy Award-winning Actor, Or Head Of A Tv Ministry, If You Stay In The Public Eye Long Enough They're Going To Try And Find A Scandal.

You Wouldn't Want Somebody In Office Who Hasn't Experienced Life.

Anything That Is Stifled Will Eventually Ferment Or Explode.

[ Hosting Saturday Night Live ] Paved The Way For Parks And Rec And The Grinder, The Comedy Central Roast, And That Whole Side Of My Career.

The '80s Were About Trying To Establish Myself As An Actor With A Career. And Being A Teenager Enjoying The Fruits Of Being Successful With Lots Of What I Think Is Appropriate For That Age.

I'll Be Sober Ten Years And Married Nine Soon.

Show Me Someone Who Doesn't Have Some Sort Of Experience That They Would Be Uncomfortable For People To Know About And I'll Show You A Dullard.

My Life Is Really Based Around My House And My Friends And My Family At The Moment, And Has Been For A While Now.

I Had No Regrets When I Did It, I Have Even Less Regret Now Because I Can't Imagine Staying On The West Wing Show And Then, Six Weeks Later, Aaron Sorkin Leaving.

I Also Listened To Hours And Hours And Hours And Hours And Hours Of [j.f.] Kennedy, And I Sort Of Built [ Accent]. And Then I Got On Set [of 'j.f.kennedy' Movie ] And Forgot It.but That's What You Want To Do. You Want It To Just Be Real. And I Think Authenticity Was Better Than - People Always Talk About When An Accent Doesn't Work, And The Phrase You Always Hear Is, "it Was Inconsistent."

Helmut Newton Shot The Ad Campaign [for Bad Influence]. It's [james] Spader At The Top Of His Game, Right After Sex, Lies And Videotape. It's Sexy. It's Weird. It's Dark. The Characters Are Great.

It's Easy To Live In A Fantasy World, And That's Why I Refuse To Live In An Isolated Environment.

In The Business Of Acting, Those Are The Actors That Make The Trains Run On Time, You Know? There's Nothing Without Them.

I Kind Of Pride Myself On Coming Onto Things That Are Well-oiled Machines And Finding A Way To Bring What I Bring And Fit In, And Raise It To Another Level If I Can. And This [code Black ] Has Been Another One Of Those Really Fun Success Stories, Much Like Parks And Recreation, Although Obviously On The Other Side Of The Comedy/drama Equation.

I Am The Guy Dressing Up In, You Know, The Caveman Outfit For The Kids Birthday Parties.

The West Wing And The Outsiders Are The Gifts That Keep On Giving.

[hank In The Sex Tape] Such A Fun Part. That's How Jake Kasdan And I Ended Up Doing The Grinder Together, Because We Had Such A Great Time On Sex Tape.

When I Had My Comedy Central Roast, David [spade] Was My First Choice To Be Roastmaster, Because I Adore Him. He's Funny As Hell, And Nobody Is Meaner.

Did You Eat A Lot Of Paint Chips When You Were A Kid?

They (teenage Boys)don’t Really Listen To Speeches Or Talks. They Absorb Incrementally, Through Hours And Hours Of Observation.

I Just Had Such A Blast Coming Up With This Corporate Dweeb [in The Sex Tape], A Sort Of Nerd Who Was Also Doing Coke And Listening To Death Metal And Was Obsessed With Walt Disney Art. I Just Felt It Was A Type Of Guy You Hadn't Really Seen Before, And I Was So Happy With How It Came Out.

David Mamet, Tim Kazurinsky, And Denise Declue, Who Adapted [ About Last Night]. Between The Three Of Them... I Mean, It's Always Down To The Writing. You're Only As Good As Your Writing.

The Really Good Thing About My Career Is That I Never Went Through A Phase Where I Played Characters Who Had Names Like "partygoer," "waiter," Or "guy #1."

I Go Through Phases Where I'll Overuse Words. S.e. Hinton, Who Wrote The Outsiders - She And I Have Been In Contact For The 50th Anniversary Of The Book - And She Said, "you Still Owe Me The 10 Dollars That We Bet That You Couldn't Stop Saying The Word 'gnarly.'"

Being Pulled That Long And That Hard For A 12-hour Day Gave Me Migraines. It's What They Used To Do Before There Were Facelifts For Actresses – You Know, Joan Crawford's Whole Career Was This. Then The Makeup Is Like Earl Scheib Auto Body Paint Sprayed On My Face.

For The Only Time In My Career, I Came In And Met Tony [richardson] For The Part - I Did Not Read, I Just Met With Him - And In The Middle Of The Meeting, He Told Me That I Had The Part [in The Hotel New Hampshire]. There Was Never, "well, Thank You, And We'll Have My People Call Your People." There Was None Of That Kabuki That Goes On Now Endlessly For Even The Smallest Role.

I Was Sick Of Playing High-school Kids. I Liked Being A Teenager, But I Would Not Go Back For All The Tea In China.

Last Night, We Were All Watching Harry Potter In Bed, And I Thought, 'this Isn't Something You Have When You're Single, That's For Sure.'

[j.f.kennedy] Is An Iconic Figure. And To Make It Even Worse, He's A Hero Of Mine. And Every Actor Will Tell You That You Can't Play Heroes. And You Can't Play Villains. You Can Only Play Human Beings.

I'll Be A Role Model On My Terms, But Don't Make A Role Model On Your Terms.

[j.f] Kennedy's Own Accent Was Inconsistent. So People Are Inconsistent. And It Always Kind Of Irks Me When People Talk About Inconsistent Accents, Because People Are Imperfect By Nature. So In The End, What You Do Is, You Do An Inhabitation And Not An Imitation.

About Last Night... [movie] Still Stands Up For Me. Like, I'm As Proud Of That Today And Still Have The Kind Of Faith In It Today To Show It To A Young Couple As I Did When It Came Out.

[allison Janney] Could Memorize Anything.she Would Memorize In The Makeup Trailer!

It's The Media That Take An Isolated Incident And Make It A Deciding Factor In A Presidential Campaign, As Opposed To The Real Issues, Like Abortion, The Homeless, The Deficit. The Same Is True With Actors And Their Lifestyles.

I Have Such Amazing Memories [about The Hotel New Hampshire Movie], Because Tony Richardson Was Such An Amazing Director, And The Subject Matter Was So Bizarre, And Yet It Was The Most Sought-after Part At That Moment. And Then It Had The Good Fortune To Come Out On The Same Day As Splash.

You Would Not Believe The Amount Of Feedback I've Gotten Over People Binge-watching The West Wing. Most Of Them Have Binge-watched It Countless Times.

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